


Fragile Masculinity Who?

by caraminha



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Humour, long suffering peter and pepper who love him anyway, lowkey fluff, seriously guys i wrote this as an infinity war hangover cure, tony stark has a sense of humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 15:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15439977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caraminha/pseuds/caraminha
Summary: Prompt from icedt-odoroki on my Tumblr: Peter is going through a growth spurt and with it, becomes taller than Tony. Peter has no problem pointing this out. And Tony realizes that he might just be the shortest male avenger.





	Fragile Masculinity Who?

  
A tentative knocking could be heard from the elevator.

  
Pepper looked up from her book, eyes narrowing as she turned to Tony. “Tony, is that Peter?”

  
“Mr Stark? Are you there? I–uh, I think… I think I’m stuck?”

  
Tony gave the elevator behind them a glance, lips pursed and eyebrows raised as if to say, _well, duh, Pep, of course it’s Peter_. He nodded once, then went back to his tablet. “Yep, that’d be him.”

  
“ _Tony!_ ” Pepper shot out of her seat.

  
“Yeah?”

  
“Well - _what?_ Get him outta there!”

  
“Just a sec, honey.”

  
“Miss Potts?”

  
“Yeah, I’m here, Peter, we’ll get you out. Don’t worry, just – _Tony_!”

  
“Five foot ten and a half, Boss, and scans are showing at least another inch and a half in the near future. There are definite signs of growing pains in his ankles.” FRIDAY’s speakers played out above them.

  
Peter’s knocking went quiet. Pepper heard a muttered, “Oh, _great._ ” from inside the elevator.

  
Pepper watched in exasperated bemusement as Tony clicked with both hands and finger gunned the ceiling before leaving the room. “So, the brown ones, FRI?” He said as he left.

  
She continued pressing the buttons, giving Peter reassurances. “What the hell? FRIDAY, why won’t it open?”

  
“Direct orders from Boss to not reactivate the elevator without his say-so.”

  
“Wh–well, reactivate it!”

  
“I can’t.”

  
“FRIDAY, I’m telling you to!”

  
She mentally catalogued for the future that her warning tone only worked on humans when FRIDAY replied, “Only Boss has a direct override, I’m sorry.”

  
“Damn it. It’s okay, Miss Potts.” Peter’s voice echoed from behind the doors. Then he mumbled to himself, “I should not have sent him those texts.”

  
“What texts? Peter, _what_ is happening?”

  
Heavy approaching footsteps caught her attention and her long-suffering, annoyed expression melted into one of amusement as she turned to see Tony enter the room, walking (rather impressively, she had to admit) gracefully in a pair of brown leather, very high-heeled thick Chelsea boots.

  
He jerked his eyebrows and gave her a slow-blinking, triumphant _“try me”_ kind of smile.

  
Then he dropped back into the corner of the couch. He lifted his feet up onto the coffee table in one smooth motion.

  
He crossed them, then picked up his tablet and resumed his work.

  
“Okay, FRI. Go ahead.” He said calmly.

  
The elevator doors swept open behind her, and a sheepish Peter stepped out. He didn’t enter the room any further than to stand next to Pepper, who was looking at Tony with her arms crossed.

  
A smug, entertained smile sat on her face.

  
Swishing her long hair over to the opposite shoulder, she glanced at Peter and put an arm round his shoulders. With her heels on, they were the same height. It was nice.

  
“I’ll tell you something, Peter. For a man insecure as he is, he’s got _great_ fashion sense.”

  
Peter sniggered.

  
Tony sat up then, throwing an arm over the back of the couch. Fake surprise coloured his features. “Pete! Hey! I didn’t hear you come in.”

  
“Hey, Mr Stark.” Peter replied. He was clearly trying not to laugh. Tilting his chin upwards, he jutted it to the boots. “Nice kicks, man. Super tasteful. We going to a gala, or something?”

  
“Oh, _these_?” Tony lifted up a leg. “Aw, thanks! I just thought, you know, they tied my outfit together quite well. Don’t you think?”

  
Pepper snorted. He was wearing sweats and a hoodie.

  
“Totally.”

  
“Anyway, much as I love these little fashionista powwows, are we gonna hit the lab or not? I mean,” he added hastily, throwing his hands out to Peter, “I’m assuming that’s why you came, anyway. If you wanna keep talking garb, that’s fine too. We can do that.”

  
Peter rolled his eyes as Pepper shook her head. “Lead the way.”

  
Tony gave him a thumbs up and the two began to leave the room - Tony now just about taller than Peter - when Peter grabbed his arm, stopping him suddenly. “Wait.”

  
“What’s wrong?”

  
Peter grinned. “Can Pepper get a pic of us? I want to immortalise this incredible outfit.”

  
Tony frowned. Pepper hooted in laughter. “What a fantastic idea, Peter! How thoughtful of you! Right, Tony? So sweet of him. We can get it framed.”

  
Peter handed her his phone and the two stood side by side.

  
Tony, ever the Peter-pleaser, relented to the idea and stuck his hands on his hips, knee out, in a melodramatic mdoel pose.

  
Peter went for the common _‘I’m meeting a celebrity!’_ pose, leaning back and pointing at Tony excitedly, mouth hanging open in happy shock.

  
“ _Perfect._ Be sure to send that to me, Peter.” Pepper winked at Peter.

  
“Will do!”

  
“Right, kid. Let’s go.” Tony sighed. He hooked an arm round Peter (probably for support, Pepper mused) and squeezed. “I know about the rip in your suit. You get hurt?”

  
“Nah. ‘Tis but a scratch.”

  
“Uh-huh.” Their voices faded away as the elevator doors slid shut, leaving Pepper to her affectionate smirk.

  
Later on, Pepper got a text from Peter. There were two attachments, one a screenshot and one the photo.

  
The screenshot was of a text conversation between Peter and Tony.

  
**Me:** Hey Mr Stark!!! Guess what!!  
**Mr. Stark:** What’s up, kid. Hit me.  
**Me:** know how ive been getting those growing pains??  
**Me:** well  
**Me:** dont get mad  
**Me:** but guess who’s the shortest avenger now ;)  
**Me:** we still up for the lab tomorrow??  
**You can no longer send or receive messages from this number.**  
**Me:** DID U JUST BLOCK ME??????  
**Messaged failed to send.**

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna send me a prompt or even just chat with me, my tumblr is caraminha and im happy to do either!!!


End file.
